The Evolution Of The Keyboard

Traced back to the invention of the typewriter, the evolution of the modern computer keyboard is a long-standing and ever-changing journey. This week, we explore the evolution of the keyboard and what it reveals about our developing technological needs.

The keyboard plays a large part in our communication. Whether at work via email, on our smartphones or even in the texts we read, the keyboard plays an integral part in communications all over the world. But what have some of the developments been?

The road to digitalisation

The keyboard was not created by one individual but has been a collaborative project spanning over a hundred years. In fact, some of the earliest contributions towards what we now know as the keyboard span back to 1575, when Venetian inventor Francesco Rampazzetto created a machine that would impress letters onto paper, which was first used as an auxiliary device for the blind.

Other major contributors include Henry Mill, Rasmus Malling Hansen, Thomas Edison and Christopher Latham Sholes.

Dr Vaibhav Singh, an expert in typography and textual communication at the University of Reading, has called the keyboard “Perhaps the most ubiquitous, resilient and yet nearly invisible thread linking the 19th century, the second industrial revolution, the machine age and the digital era is the humble keyboard – a material and conceptual legacy that we encounter every single day.”

As the keyboard has become digitalised, it has influenced our wider communication as humans. From a sociological level, our attraction to a universal instrument for written communications is very revealing about the influence that technology has on global communicative infrastructures.

Smartphones and predictive text

The keyboard has had a significant physical and practical evolution. A good example of this is the use of the QWERTY keyboard on smartphones. With predictive text now shipped as a standard smartphone function, communication via the keyboard on our phones has become even faster.

More people are typing on phones than ever before with smartphone “keyboards” replacing the use of physical keyboards attached to computers or laptops. However, even predictive text has its limitations – how many of us have accidentally sent incoherent texts as the result of predictive text?!

Although some experts predict that speech recognition will eventually eliminate the need for predictive text, it is highly likely that it too will have the same limitations. When accuracy and quality are required, you should consider using dictation services such as WeType where a team will transcribe it, removing many of the limitations caused by technology.

Looking to the future

But what role will the modern keyboard have in the future? Ongoing developments in A.I. may mean that our reliance on the keyboard will evolve and over time likely decrease. However, many experts are sceptical about the effectiveness of A.I. in one-to-one communications. Will a “mind” based on an algorithm ever be able to successfully communicate on behalf of us?

Even with the current pace of development in AI, the answer is probably no. One of the key obstacles is the limitation of AI, at this point in time, to contextualise. As the context is such a vital component of communication between humans, it is difficult to predict how technology can substitute how we communicate in the future.

Is the humble keyboard heading for obsolesce? Comment below!